LXXI.
Ni mihi destinatum foret suum quaeque in annum referre, avebat animus antire statimque memorare exitus quos Latinus atque Opsius ceterique flagitii eius repertores habuere, (ni mihi destinatum foret suum quaeque in annum referre, avebat animus antire statimque memorare exitus quos Latinus atque Opsius … habuere: ‘if I should not have resolved to report every event in its own year, I would have longed in my heart to anticipate and record immediately the fate that Latinus and Opsius suffered.’ ni mihi destinatum foret …avebat: negative conditional sentence with plup. subjunctive in the protasis (to express unreality in the past) and imperfect indicative in the apodosis, the latter to imply an action very nearly performed, but cut short by the action of the protasis. Cf. L. 2104, G. 597, Remark 2., and 254, Remark 3. Gildersleeve aptly calls the imperfect indicative ‘the tense of disappointment’, denoting dissatisfaction with an existing state of things (G. 254, Rmark 2). Also to be noted is the fact that Latin indicative in independent clauses often corresponds, especially with verbs like possum, debeo, licet, and other verbs or verbal phrases, to conditional present or perfect in other languages or to verbal phrases beginning with could, would, should, might, or ought in English. A partial list of such verbs and verbal phrases is given in G. 254, Remark 1.) non modo postquam Gaius Caesar rerum potitus est (postquam Gaius Caesar rerum potitus est: ‘after Caligula took possession of the empire’, in 37 A.D.) sed incolumi Tiberio, qui scelerum ministros ut perverti ab aliis nolebat, ita plerumque satiatus et oblatis in eandem operam recentibus veteres et praegravis adflixit: (incolumi Tiberio, qui scelerum ministros ut perverti ab aliis nolebat, ita plerumque satiatus [est] et oblatis in eandem operam recentibus veteres et praegravis adflixit: two ablatives abs., incolumi Tiberio and oblatis …recentibus, the first of temporal sense heading a rel. clause containing a comparative sentence, the second of conditional sense: lit. ‘when Tiberius was still alive, who, just as he did not want the executors of [his] iniquities to be destroyed by others, at the same time (ita) often became jaded [with them] and, fresh ones having offered themselves for the same tasks, he discarded the old ones as incommodious’; oblatis in eandem operam recentibus: equivalent to a subordinate clause with si: ‘if new candidates offered themselves for the same service’) verum has atque alias sontium poenas in tempore trademus. (verum has atque alias sontium poenas in tempore trademus: ‘in any case, these and other requitals of the guilty I shall report at the right time.’ Of the four senators only the execution of Latiaris is known (Book 6, ch. 4); the punishment of the others is recounted in a part of the Annals that went lost. verum has here a somewhat adversative sense, ‘anyhow’, ‘however’, ‘be that as it may’.) tum (tum: marks a return to the narrative after the digression: ‘next’, ‘back to the subject’, ‘thereupon’.) censuit Asinius Gallus, cuius liberorum Agrippina matertera erat, (Asinius Gallus, cuius liberorum Agrippina matertera erat: ‘Asinius Gallus, of whose children Agrippina was aunt, …’; both Agrippina and Vipsania, the wife of Asinius Gallus, were the daughters of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (Augustus’ right hand), but from different wives, hence the two were half sisters. Agrippina’s mother was Julia, Augustus’ daughter by his first wife Scribonia; Vipsania’s mother was Pomponia, Marcus Agrippa’s third wife. Vipsania became the first wife of Tiberius, who left her to marry Julia (on orders from Augustus), then married Gallus, by whom she had several children. Thus, Tiberius’ rancorous animosity against Gallus sprang from two sources: first his marriage to Vipsania, a woman he had been deeply attached to, secondly his being the brother-in-law of Agrippina, his nemesis. Both he and Augustus, who described Gallus as avidum sed minorem (cf. Book 1, ch 13), always viewed him as someone aiming at the empire. matertera is an aunt by the mother’s side.) petendum a principe ut metus suos senatui fateretur amoverique sineret. (censuit … petendum a principe ut metus suos senatui fateretur amoverique sineret: lit. ‘he proposed that it should be asked from the prince to reveal to the senate his fears and to permit [the senate] that [they] be removed.’ petendum [esse] …ut …faterertur …sineret: impersonal use of the gerundive with forms of esse (passive periphrastic conjugation: cf. G. 251) to denote necessity; petere is here followed by a complementary final clause with ut; also found with subjunctive alone or infinitive.) nullam acque Tiberius, ut rebatur, ex virtutibus suis quam dissimulationem diligebat: (nullam acque Tiberius, ut rebatur, ex virtutibus suis quam dissimulationem diligebat: ‘of his virtues, as he saw [them], Tiberius valued none as much as dissimulation.’ aeque is adverb, ‘as much as’; ex virtutibus is abl. of origin) eo aegrius accepit recludi quae premeret. (eo aegrius accepit [ea] recludi quae premeret: ‘therefore he took it in bad part that those things ([ea]) were being revealed (recludi) which he would keep secret (quae premeret).’ aegrius accepit introduces indirect discourse, wherein the main clause in what follows becomes infinitive and the dependent relative clause subjunctive. The same construction is used in the passage below after gnarus, followed again by a subjunctive clause, this time with ubi, and two infinitive main clauses (one with esse understood, one with coniungere), all in indirect discourse. For aegrius see note for diutius …difficilius in ch. 69.) sed mitigavit Seianus, non Galli amore verum ut cunctationes principis opperiretur, gnarus lentum in meditando, ubi prorupisset, tristibus dictis atrocia facta coniungere. (sed mitigavit Seianus, non Galli amore verum ut cunctationes principis opperiretur, gnarus lentum [esse] in meditando, ubi prorupisset, tristibus dictis atrocia facta coniungere: ‘but Sejanus pacified him, not from love of Gallus, really to give time to the prince’s hesitation [to mature], knowing that he was slow in making up his mind and that once the breakpoint would have been reached, brutal action would soon join with angry words.’ prorupisset: an example of pluperfect subjunctive being used to express future action in the past (Ernout); tristibus dictis is dat. with coniungere. verum: here ‘truly’, ‘really’; compare with the meaning of verum above.) Per idem tempus Iulia mortem obiit, quam neptem Augustus convictam adulterii damnaverat proieceratque in insulam Trimerum, haud procul Apulis litoribus. (Iulia mortem obiit, quam neptem Augustus … proiecerat in insulam Trimerum, haud procul Apulis litoribus: ‘Julia died, the granddaughter whom Augustus had cast aside in the island of Trimerus, not far from the Apulian coast.’ Julia was the daughter of the elder Julia (the daughter of Augustus) and of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. Thus, she was Augustus’ granddaughter and the sister of Agrippina. Found guilty of adultery with D. Junius Silanus (cf. Book 3, ch. 24), she was exiled to one in the Tremiti group of islands in the Adriatic Sea, north of the Gargano promontory, the ‘spur’ in the ‘boot’ of Italy. Apulia is a region of SE Italy comprising the heel of Italy and areas north of it up to and including the Gargano promontory.) illic viginti annis (viginti annis: duration of time is on occasion found expressed by the abl. rather than the acc.; cf. A.G. 524, b. and Note.) exilium toleravit Augustae ope sustentata, (Augustae ope sustentata: abl. abs.: ‘having been supported by the aid of the Augusta’) quae florentis privignos cum per occultum subvertisset, (cum per occultum subvertisset: use of historical or narrative cum, also called circumstantial cum, with subjunctive (cf. G. 585): ‘while she had been causing their downfall, she …’; the action of the cum clause immediately precedes, or accompanies, or even to some extent causes the action of the main clause. This explains why causal cum and historical cum are often barely distinguishable.) misericordiam erga adflictos palam ostentabat.